Affordable Housing: Let's Build Something

The Regional Affordable Housing Task Force that’s working on a solution to one of our more critical problems is alive and well and moving forward. Our 19 member panel has spent the past several weeks learning about the scope of the problem, where to find money for affordable housing projects and researching what other communities are doing.

And so far, so good. Most members are engaged, thoughtful and seem willing to create something that will actually make a dent in a large but generally hidden problem in our community. But ask any developer and they’ll tell you that our region is full of people who will eventually support well conceived and innovative initiatives but only if they first see something tangible.

Understandable.

Far too often well meaning people are thrown together with the goal of creatively solving big problems. Hours are spent in meetings, thousands of words are uttered, money is spent and hundreds of trees are sacrificed in order to publish splashy reports that are proudly presented to local governments where they are immediately shelved and forgotten.

We have an opportunity to be different. Here’s my suggestion: let’s devise, finance and actually build a unique, affordable housing, pilot-project to show the region that something significant and worthwhile can be accomplished. Completing an affordable housing project that includes the public and private sectors as well as non-profit agencies will establish credibility and help ease the way for future projects.

Such a demonstration project should be centered on an existing or planned urban transit center and provide specific development incentives including:

• Performance based zoning
• SEPA exemption
• Parking ratio changes
• Certainty in permit processing time
• Planned action EIS Infrastructure funding from local jurisdictions
• A program similar to Austin, TX’s S.M.A.R.T. that expedites permits, allows fee waivers and uses local governmental housing staff members to resolve development related issues.

Creating an innovative and unique project such as this would give the Task Force and any future partners something solid and beneficial to work toward. It would also be a lot of fun and could show the rest of the country that the best ideas come from the Inland Northwest.

Mayor Should Thank the Council

All those who agree that the Spokane City Council has just saved Mayor Mary Verner from a huge embarrassment raise their hands. Thought so.

The Mayor was pushing council members to put a $27 million bond issue on the November ballot to pay for a new police evidence locker and animal shelter. I recently suggested that Verner may have a good idea but that she needed to slow down, create a sound case and persuasive communication strategy before asking voters to spend that much money. Why? Her idea which popped up about two weeks ago needs 60% approval---she got less than half that from the City Council. Imagine what the voters would have done.

So now Verner must take advantage of the extra time to build her case which should include:

· Researching and deciding exactly what we need and why.
· Getting unanimous City Council support for her plan.
· Clear, consistent and compelling messages that resonate with voters.
· Creating a robust public outreach and media strategy.
· Finding the right team to run what is tantamount to a political campaign.

Council members seem to agree that we may need to spend millions of dollars on these proposals and have offered to work with the Mayor to prioritize what to build and how to pay for them. Verner needs to optimize this cooperative spirit and move forward as soon as possible. Otherwise, stalled momentum and growing opposition will team up to stop what might be necessary public benefits. Spokane has seen that too often---let’s not see it again.

Self Promotion

OK---I admit it---this is shameless self promotion---a rather vile habit that I learned while working with a guy at KHQ who still repeats his name every other sentence during live shots. So forgive me---but in my defense this does show that I've actually accomplished a few things this summer while having lot of fun at the same time!

Let me know what you think.

A River Runs Through It

Is Nothing Sacred?/BBB

What the Hay?

Smart Shopping

The Davenport

Out of Thin Air

Folks ask me periodically whether I miss the news business. My answer is always the same---nope. Until now.

The looks on the Spokane City Council members’ faces would have make great TV last week when Mayor Mary Verner asked them to put a $41 million bond issue on the ballot to pay for several new public buildings. Can you imagine sitting there when Verner walked in, trailed by her staff, and out of the blue suggested to the Council that the City needs a new street department building, an animal shelter, a new police shooting range and evidence storage building? Would have been a hoot to watch were it not so sad that there was absolutely no preparation, groundwork, communication or public outreach prior to Verner dumping the issue into the Council’s lap.

We may actually need the new structures. Who knows? Certainly not the Council or the public at this point. Paving the way for capital projects generally takes time, effort, lots of information and political savvy. But instead of creating a well thought out, robust and persuasive case for new taxes that 60% of the voters might support Verner pulls this initiative out of thin air just a couple of weeks before the deadline to put it on the November ballot. That leaves little time for the Council to evaluate the need for the new buildings or determine if Verner’s numbers are right. And has any research been done to gauge whether voters have an appetite for a large tax increase to pay for things that only benefit city employees?

Persuading community leaders, decision makers and taxpayers to support large bond issues can be done. I was a consultant on last fall’s successful campaign to pass a $42 million bond issue for Spokane’s parks, pools and playgrounds. We worked hard, raised a lot of money and had a compelling argument for the tax increase. But dozens of people spent long hours evaluating the issue and laying the groundwork before asking the Council to put it on the ballot.

That didn’t happen here. I also suspect the Mayor has no plan to organize a campaign to push the issue if it gets on the ballot. But don’t worry---this won’t be the last time this administration forgets that communication is a key component to running a city. Which means I will also have more opportunities to miss being on TV.

Spokane County Must Act Quickly

Call it common sense or just good politics but the results are the same: Spokane County now has at least a fighting chance to build a new jail. But only if the Commissioners and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich work quickly to lay the necessary groundwork to gain public support for what will be the largest bond issue in county history.

Commissioners were rushing toward asking voters this November to approve a $245 million bond issue for the project---it was shaping up to be an abysmal failure. No public education campaign was in place, strong opposition to the new jail’s proposed site near Downtown Spokane had surfaced and was working hard to kill the project and creating a political committee to push the measure was only an afterthought.

But the questions now are will the time be used wisely or will the Sheriff and Commissioners revert to form? If experience is any judge they will find themselves in the same position a year from now. Why? The county staffers in charge of designing the project have strongly suggested since last January that a public education program explaining the need for a new jail be established before anything else is done. That wise council fell on deaf ears for more than six months---the only thing that got the decision makers’ attention was the price tag.

The Sheriff and Commissioners must move fast to gain public support because opposition will not wane; opponents smell blood and will continue working to ensure that the project never comes up for a vote. But my guess is that nothing will be done on the communications front until after November. Throw in the holidays and we’re into January before the subject resurfaces---a full year after staffers recognized where their leaders should go.

Communication is the key to this project—always has been, always will be. But there are no signs that anything will happen any time soon.